A devastating tragedy spurred Alhaji Siraj Bah to create a product that could change a culture, improve the environment, and ideally save lives. With electricity being unreliable, wood-based charcoal briquettes have become the most common form of cooking fuel in the country, the demand for which has led to rampant deforestation. This activity increases the risk of mudslides and may have contributed to the one that killed Bah’s entire adoptive family. With his establishment of Rugsal Trading, Bah has devised a means for using coconut scraps as an alternative fuel source that burns better, repurposes waste product, and saves trees.
SOURCE: THE WASHINGTON POST
In Sierra Leone, Fighting Deforestation Using Coconuts
